Number of ferry passengers to foreign countries shows steady growth

The number of ferry passengers from Norway to foreign countries was up again in November, by over 27,000 or 15 per cent compared to the same month in 1997. Altogether 207,952 passengers travelled abroad by ferry.

The number of Norwegian passengers increased by just over 26,300, or 16.8 per cent, and accounted for 88 per cent of all passengers travelling overseas this month.

Danes in lead

Around 24,900 foreigners travelled from Norway by ferry in November. This corresponded to an increase of 775 passengers, or 3.2 per cent compared with the same period in 1997. Danes were the dominant group of foreign passengers in November, accounting for nearly 12,100, or 48.5 per cent of all foreigners travelling from Norway. The comparative percentage in October was 43.4 per cent. On the other hand, German traffic continued to decline, from 30.8 per cent in October to 18.7 per cent in November.

New Statistics
Ferry services between Norway and foreign countries, November 1998.
The statistics were started in August 1997 and are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and annually in Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Maritime Statistics. For more information contact: Sissel.Varli@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 18, or Terje.Thorsen@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 55 37.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 2, 1999